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How do I permanently delete my account?

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Re: How do I permanently delete my account?

#61

Post by gerhardi »

onion2k wrote: post #22
justhw wrote: post #17

How do we really know that this is actual deletion and not a deleted="true" in their databases? > It is inaccessible to other people using Facebook. The wording does sound very convincing but I really don't think we can just believe their word. After all it's Facebook.

How do we really know that this is actual deletion and not a deleted="true" in their databases? We don't know that. If you're feeling charitable you could believe they're being honest, but if you not then you just have to wonder. There is no way Facebook could prove they don't have a secret server with your data on it somewhere. Proving that would be impossible.

It’s the regulation. I work on EU GDPR tech stuff currently (this stuff is HOT at the moment and I have a feeling that even many large companies are quite late on the train!) in financial services sector and while some data needs to be kept for x years according to the law anyway, rest really needs to be deleted and at least my current client really doesn’t want to play with the financial risks involved with getting caught in a possible EU GDPR compliance audit.

Re: How do I permanently delete my account?

#63

Post by gdwatson »

andkenneth wrote: post #14

The GDPR is a huge deal and absolutely no joke. This is part of the compliance for that. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Data_Protection_Regula... It has the potential to completely change the way tech giants are able to provide their services. Each "purpose" that data is collected for must be individually consented, and it's prohibited for purposes to be withheld if others are not consented to. This allows a u…

I applaud regulations promoting user privacy, even if this seems heavy handed. But does anyone else wonder about the implications of applying that regulation to those who collect data on EU residents whether they operate in the EU or not?

Has the US State Department stated a position on the matter?

Re: How do I permanently delete my account?

#64

Post by PhasmaFelis »

djrogers wrote: post #55
imustbeevil wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, they can show you ads that don't use your data. You'd have to allow them to use your data to give you better ads, but you'd just get worse ads in the meantime.

Watch how you use those words - if one defines ‘better’ and ‘worse’ in the context of my privacy, then ads that don’t do creepy things are better.

Don't underestimate how bad bad ads can be. I turned off targeted advertising on my Android phone for a while. The result was that around 50% of ad banners I saw were ultra-spammy strobing things--presumably the only ones that will pay for untargeted ads--making apps with built-in ad banners essentially unusable. I wound up changing back. That may have been the intention.

(An Android ad blocker would probably work best, but getting one running on my ancient phone was more hassle than I wanted.)

Re: How do I permanently delete my account?

#65

Post by asdfgadsfgasfdg »

gdwatson wrote: post #63
andkenneth wrote: post #14

The GDPR is a huge deal and absolutely no joke. This is part of the compliance for that. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Data_Protection_Regula... It has the potential to completely change the way tech giants are able to provide their services. Each "purpose" that data is collected for must be individually consented, and it's prohibited for purposes to be withheld if others are not consented to. This allows a u…

I applaud regulations promoting user privacy, even if this seems heavy handed. But does anyone else wonder about the implications of applying that regulation to those who collect data on EU residents whether they operate in the EU or not? Has the US State Department stated a position on the matter?

It is a similar concept to export of physical goods into a country/trade block. Either comply with the local regulations on quality or your goods will not be allowed.

The US State Department does not really get to have a stated position other than diplomatic.

Re: How do I permanently delete my account?

#66

Post by frik »

Steeeve wrote: post #44
justhw wrote: post #17

How do we really know that this is actual deletion and not a deleted="true" in their databases? > It is inaccessible to other people using Facebook. The wording does sound very convincing but I really don't think we can just believe their word. After all it's Facebook.

It seems a bit naive to think that a service provider would scrub their systems on individual requests. It's not practical to perform a delete in some environments. It's certainly not practical to go through backup files and delete references in others. Everybody goes through a data recovery scenario at some point. What you should expect is best effort. Nobody is going to re-train their neural networks that reference…

The single source of truths, all the core Facebook users data (except messages) is stored in MySQL cluster. The issue you describe is that the same data is also cached in Memcached and by other means. But deleting is entirely possible, though it's against their business model, so they make real deleting as hard to find and do as possible, and scare people away with info like "you cannot register again".

Training of neural networks is probably a gray area, and a potential issue for many companies. Example: Think of the recorded audio messages from Siri/GoogleNow/Cortana that gets processes and potentially stored and not deleted thereafter on their (and third parties like Nuance) servers. If one deletes an account, one would assume it also and especially also deletes all private data like messages, voice and video recording.

Re: How do I permanently delete my account?

#67

Post by djrogers »

BigJono wrote: post #57
djrogers wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Watch how you use those words - if one defines ‘better’ and ‘worse’ in the context of my privacy, then ads that don’t do creepy things are better.

Is there anything inherently bad about a site using your data to serve you more relevant ads, as long as your data is not passed on to a 3rd party?

Show me a site that gathers data about me directly, transparently, and without any creepy cross-site tracking, and I’ll consider your question. Unfortunately that’s not how anyone works.

Re: How do I permanently delete my account?

#69

Post by asdfgadsfgasfdg »

Steeeve wrote: post #44
justhw wrote: post #17

How do we really know that this is actual deletion and not a deleted="true" in their databases? > It is inaccessible to other people using Facebook. The wording does sound very convincing but I really don't think we can just believe their word. After all it's Facebook.

It seems a bit naive to think that a service provider would scrub their systems on individual requests. It's not practical to perform a delete in some environments. It's certainly not practical to go through backup files and delete references in others. Everybody goes through a data recovery scenario at some point. What you should expect is best effort. Nobody is going to re-train their neural networks that reference…

Yeah I think that these arguments will just lead to a company getting a fine.

My data is mine not yours. If I withdraw my consent to you having it just delete it. If you can't do this then don't collect my data in the first place.

Re: How do I permanently delete my account?

#70

Post by smueller1234 »

Buge wrote: post #56
imustbeevil wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, they can show you ads that don't use your data. You'd have to allow them to use your data to give you better ads, but you'd just get worse ads in the meantime.

So I need to explicitly accept targeted ads from every company that shows targeted ads? Does this mean every website that shows targeted ads, or can a blanket large provider (e.g. Google) get a single consent and apply it to all websites hosting Google ads? This seems like it would give a market advantage to Google, because they have products that people want and can likely get a fair number of people to consent if t…

The blanket version. Google et al neither sell nor (generally) share your data with advertisers. They make the decision on what to show to you and thus, only they need to get your consent once for that express purpose.

By the way: it's still a topic of heavy debate how much of this can be done through terms and conditions after all.

Disclaimer/source: working for large Google customer, involved in GDPR compliance. Edit: spelling.

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